Take the next 15 seconds and read this quote. Keep in mind, it was written in 1926!
“When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.” -Nikola Tesla, 1926
In 1996 the Nokia 9000 hit the market as the first “smartphone” that offered connection to the Internet. In 2003 the world was introduced to mobile video chat but use of the feature remained under-utilized until 2010 when Apple released its video call service FaceTime to all iPhone users. Up until recently the tech giant’s service required a connection to a Wi-Fi network and lagged more than a little bit, but now you can use it just about anywhere. This is an example of how we are still working towards Nikola Tesla’s vision of the perfect application of technology.
There are three key traits that all great futurists have: imagination, a desire for progress, and intelligence.
For thousands of years civilizations have developed and discovered incredible things making breakthroughs along the way. Yet some theories we now consider general knowledge, went unnoticed, for a long period of time, in part because it took the recognition of the right person, a person who has what we refer to as high beam vision.
So what does this mean for those of us who aren’t quite on the genius level (I took an IQ test for this, 130, so close)? Imagination and desire lead to innovation that people will get excited about, and this applies to more than just physics and engineering. Figuring out what the next big development will be is not something that just happens; if we want to see what’s next we have to truly understand what’s going on now.
As an example, let’s examine Starbucks. They have taken a relatively simply 2D barcode and combined it with a successful loyalty program to create one of, if not the most successful mobile wallets on the market. Benjamin Vigier the lead on the mobile app’s development utilized high beam thinking to understand that consumers liked using gift cards and wanted an easy way to apply them to the loyalty program. Timeliness was key in this process and Howard Shultz, CEO at Starbucks, recognized this.
Starbucks’ loyalty program is a great example of a company truly listening to customers and understanding their desires. If this wasn’t the case, the program would have cost the company a lot in time and resources with little willingness for consumer adoption. The program gave Starbucks a leading edge advantage over their competition, while companies like Google and Apple have “bleeding-edge” innovations (Google Wallet and Apple Pay) that are finding slow adoption. Therefore understanding consumer adoption tolerance is a key trait of a successful high beam thinker.
Tesla’s vision has come true. The world really has become a “huge brain,” a network of neurons constantly firing information in every direction. We are all a part of this world whether we want to be or not. Futurists now, more than ever, can utilize this information to predict and innovate.
Nikola Tesla predicted 89 years ago that I would be carrying a smartphone in my vest pocket. Although I don’t often wear a vest, I still find his prediction really impressive. Alright, your turn. Try to predict something seemingly far-fetched that will be the norm in 2104. Not that easy, huh?